No more Mr. Nice Diehl

Saturday

Nov 4, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Tanner Cole

Those people on Facebook are "cowards," so said Scott Diehl.

He told The Hawk Eye his campaign was over on Oct. 14, then said it was back on in a later interview. Both decisions also were broadcasted on his Facebook page. When he told media he still was in the race, he said his committee needed time to rethink his strategy. His people told him he needed to get off Facebook, Diehl said.

"They thought I should call it a suspension, not even say temporary, just call it a suspension," Diehl said. "It was one way to back out of Facebook real fast. Facebook was our biggest mistake. We were not prepared for it. Personally, it was the first time I ever in my life was on Facebook."

Diehl wouldn't say who is on his committee, but he made it clear he or they also made a decision about his tone for the rest of the election: Diehl was done playing nice.

"I'm fighting now, unlike I did before where I was tiptoeing through the tulips trying to be nice to these people," Diehl said.

Diehl, 54, is from Utica, Michigan. Utica is a small suburb of Detroit.

He technically is from Illinois, but considers Utica his hometown. At 3 years old, he was rescued from abusive parents in Illinois, he said, and placed with an adoptive family.

He studied parks and recreation at Central Michigan University, but switched to education before graduating.

Diehl considers his early careers a point of pride. He managed an independent drug store in high school and eventually became co-owner. When he and the other owner sold the store, Diehl took his cash and opened a furniture store. He said both businesses were "crazy successful."

He moved to Burlington with his then-wife, Kimberly Benish. Benish had gotten a job as parks and recreation supervisor for the city of Burlington. She ran J-Street Youth Center. Diehl said he gets recognized sometimes from days spent volunteering at the center.

Diehl taught religion at Notre Dame High School for less than a year during the 1998-1999 school year. He claims he quit of his own accord after the parents of "entitled, rich kids coming from prominent families" complained about the difficulty of their children's homework.

He went on to find other teaching and tutoring jobs in the area and across the Mississippi River. He met his current wife, Paula Diehl, while working at Fort Madison Community Hospital as a nurse.

Just as he mistrusted the "prominent families" at Notre Dame, Diehl does not seem to think highly of the five people also appearing on the Nov. 7 ballot. He came in sixth in Burlington's recent city council primary. He earned 292 votes, just 15 more than the seventh place candidate Cody Flietner.

At the last candidate forum, Diehl would not say anything positive about his opponents when asked.

But in his last interview with The Hawk Eye, Diehl had plenty negative to say about the others.

Jon Billups, Diehl said, "inherited a business from his father and ran it into the ground."

"Certain people can get away with murder," Diehl said. "And other people, like myself, get called on the rug all the time."

William Ell, Diehl said, has "real" firefighter experience, but just being on the council doesn't count as experience.

"You've got to work," Diehl said.

Robert Fleming, Diehl said, is a "Randy Winegard crony."

"Fleming has been nothing but a downward spiral for this city," Diehl said.

Matt Rinker, Diehl said, thinks he is "hot s---."

"Maybe I'm supposed to be a prick like Matt Rinker and be out there saying, I did this and I did that," Diehl said.

Lynda Murray, Diehl said, "came out of the woodwork" as a candidate because her husband wants money from the council.

"These are all adults, and they're behaving like entitled children," Diehl said.

Diehl even commented on the current city council, calling it a "rubber stamp" governing body.

Diehl does have a few people to compliment. He had high praise for former city councilman and mayor Tim Scott, saying he's the only recent council member to return city phone calls.

Prior to the primary, he campaigned in conjunction with David Cloke, another candidate. After the primary, in which Cloke got 14th with 113 votes, he started campaigning with Mike Elmer. Elmer is running a write-in campaign. Diehl said Elmer "begged him" not to suspend his campaign.

Diehl said he reached out to a group of young candidates after the primary and heard back from only Chance Oliver.

Ryan Rogers, one of the younger candidates who campaigned alongside Oliver, said he hadn't heard anything from Diehl since the last candidate forum. He wasn't surprised Diehl couldn't reach him.

"He blocked me on Facebook way back in early September," Rogers said.

Diehl has two children: a son, Zac, and a daughter, Charity. He also has four stepchildren.

The Burlington City Council general election is Nov. 7. This is the final article in a series of six profiling the candidates whose names will appear on the ballot. Diehl is running alongside Billups, Fleming, Ell, Murray and Rinker.

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